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Modern Wikia:Username policy
The username policy describes accepted practices and behavior in naming and operating a user account on Modern Wikia. You may wish to create an account if you do not already have one. Creating an account provides a number of benefits; in particular, your contributions are attributed to your username. Choosing an appropriate username Note to username patrollers and administrators: This section, and all of its subsections, are aimed at new users. It does not make recommendations about how to enforce the username policy; that section is below. Your username is a nickname that will identify all of your contributions to Modern Wikia. It can even be your real name, if you so choose, but you should be aware of the risks involved in editing under your real name. Whatever name you choose, it should be a name that other contributors are comfortable with and which does not interfere with the project. A controversial name may give a bad impression to other users, and avoiding this is in your own interest. There are four kinds of usernames that are specifically disallowed: #Misleading usernames imply relevant, misleading things about the contributor. Misleading names include those that imply you are in a position of authority over Wikipedia, or those that impersonate other people. #Promotional usernames are used to promote a group, company, product or website on Modern Wikia. #Offensive usernames are those that offend other contributors, making harmonious editing difficult or impossible. #Disruptive usernames include outright trolling or personal attacks, include profanities or otherwise show a clear intent to disrupt Modern Wikia. If you choose such a username, that account may be blocked – you are welcome to create a new and acceptable username. If you've inadvertently chosen an inappropriate username, you may be banned. As part of the rule against misleading usernames, your username must not give the impression that your account has permissions which it does not have. Thus it may not contain the terms "administrator", "bureaucrat", "steward", "checkuser", "oversight", or similar terms like "admin", "sysop" or "moderator". Also, unless your account is an approved bot, your name should not end with "bot", which is used to identify bot accounts. These criteria apply to both usernames and signatures. Remember that the purpose of your username and your signature is to identify you as a contributor. If your username or signature is unnecessarily confusing, editors or administrators may request that you change it. Usernames that are inappropriate in another language, or that represent an inappropriate name with misspellings and substitutions, or do so indirectly or by implication, are still considered inappropriate and will be banned. Ultimately, the line between acceptable and unacceptable usernames is based on the opinions of other editors. How your name will appear Modern Wikia usernames are case sensitive, and the first letter of every username is automatically capitalized. By default, your username appears in your signature on posts to discussion pages. Your username comes with a "user page", whose title is of the form "User:Yourname", and a "user talk page" entitled "User talk:Yourname" that people will use to contact you. If your username is commonly misspelled, consider helping people by adding a redirect from the misspelled username to your actual username. (Any user page can be created by any contributor, whether an associated account exists or not.) Real names Use of a real name allows contributions to be more easily traced to an individual. This may make a contributor more vulnerable to issues such as harassment. You should consider the benefits and drawbacks of making substantial contributions under your real name before doing so, especially if you are interested in editing subjects which may be politically sensitive. Do not edit under the name of a well-known living person unless it is your real name, and you either are that well-known person or you make it clear that you are not. Such usernames may be blocked as a precaution. If you have been blocked for using your real name, please don't take offense; we're trying to prevent somebody from impersonating you! You are welcome to use your real name, but in some cases, you will need to prove you are who you say you are. You can do this by sending an e-mail to an administrator; although an immediate reply may not be possible. Internet addresses Conflating your Modern Wikia identity with the identity of something else on the Internet can cause problems. E-mail addresses and URLs are not valid usernames. Plain domain names are sometimes acceptable, such as when the purpose of the domain is simply to identify you as a person, but they are inappropriate if they promote a commercial Web page. Some users choose to make usernames based on their static IP addresses, but this is not recommended. Explicit use of a name or url of a company, group or product as a username is not permitted. Your username should represent you. Accounts that represent an entire group or company are not permitted; see Sharing accounts below. Since usernames that are the name of a company or group create the appearance of intent to promote that group, accounts with a company or group name as a username are indefinitely blocked. Non-English usernames There is no requirement that usernames be in English. Furthermore, contributors are welcome to use usernames that are not spelled using the Latin alphabet, but should bear in mind that scripts of non-Latin languages (such as Arabic, Cyrillic, Chinese, Greek or Japanese) are illegible to most contributors to Modern Wikia. To avoid confusion and aid navigation, users with such usernames are encouraged to use Latin characters in their signature. Remember: No usernames in Non-English should not be inappropriate, misspelled, or reflect on a company name. Similar usernames Usernames that are very similar to existing ones can only be created by administrators; You must not use a username that could easily be confused with that of an active contributor; a username that is similar only to unused or inactive accounts should not be a problem. Special:Listusers can be used to check for such usernames. The program that checks for similarity is a bit over-sensitive – if the username is different enough as to prevent other people from confusing the two users, the account should be approved by an administrator regardless of how active the existing account is. If your username is similar to that of another contributor or an article, you may wish to provide some form of disambiguation. Note: That Modern Wikia Security does not permit the use of similar or existing usernames of our wanted personnel. Dealing with inappropriate usernames If you have encountered an inappropriate username – in particular, a username that is misleading, promotional, offensive, or disruptive as described above, you have several different options for how to proceed. You should choose one based on the severity of the problem, and based on what resolution would be the best for Modern Wikia. Use common sense in making your choice, and avoid biting the newbies. Talk to the user Many users who create new usernames have not read this policy. If you see a username that is problematic but was not obviously created in bad faith, you should make an attempt to encourage the user to create a new account with a better username and tell an administrator about the account. Confusing usernames Some usernames appear problematic without fitting clearly into one of the four categories. This is often the case with confusing or extremely lengthy usernames, which are highly discouraged but which are not so inappropriate on their own that they require an immediate block. Confusing usernames can often be a red flag for other problems. An editor with a confusing username or signature may be blocked sooner than usual for other policy violations such as disruption or vandalism, if their confusing username contributes to the disruption. As with all other blocks, admins should use their discretion and common sense. Usernames for Administrator Attention guidelines Usernames for Administrator Attention is a noticeboard for dealing with severe violations of the username policy quickly. See Wikipedia:Usernames for administrator attention/Listing instructions for information on how to place or resolve UAA reports, including the options that are available to administrators. Changing your username Deleting an account It is not possible to delete user accounts, as all contributions must be assigned to some identifier; either a username or, in the case of anonymous contributions, an IP address. Editors seeking privacy per their right to vanish can have their user and user talk pages deleted. Sharing accounts User accounts can only represent individuals. Sharing an account – or the password to an account – with others is not permitted, and doing so will result in the account being blocked. If you edit for a group or organization please still use a non-shared name for your editing. A name such as "User:Megawatt Inc., (John)" may be appropriate. Exceptions to this rule are limited to accounts that directly represent the Wikimedia Foundation or internal Wikipedia committees, Modern Wikia, or Wikia; though none are currently active, and bot accounts that are maintained by more than one contributor, provided the existence of such an arrangement is made clear and has consensus. Using multiple accounts It is recommended that contributors do not use multiple accounts. The use of multiple accounts to alter the apparent weight of an opinion is known as sock puppetry, and is not permitted. For example, multiple accounts may not be used to comment on proposals or requests, cast votes, or engage in edit warring. Policies apply to individuals, not accounts. Using a second account for policy violations will cause any penalties to be applied to both accounts. Blocked or banned users must not use sock puppets to circumvent a block; doing so will result in an extension of the block or ban. Category:Modern Wikia